Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya in the “Lands Below the Wind”

Description

This article deals with the impact of Hanbalism in Southeast Asia, with special reference to Ibn Taymiyya's outstanding student who was himself an accomplished scholar, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya. It argues that while it is true that the intellectual relationship established through multipurpose pilgrimage to the heartland of Islam has never lost its significance, the political implications of this connection seem to be overestimated. Notwithstanding the considerable number of writings by and on Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya in the Malay-Indonesian language, the nature and extent of their impact in the religious life and thought of people have yet to be seen. Hence, to construe a link between them and the emergence of radicalism in the “Lands below the Wind” would be too hasty a conclusion. After a historical overview on the coming of Islam and the intellectual role it plays in this region is given here to provide a general framework for the discussion that follows.